Category: Life

Do you ever wonder if you were truly related to your parents? I ask myself this question all the time. In fact my sister and I would like to ask for a DNA test. We are that sure that they aren’t our real parents!
First of all, they are nothing like us. Mel and I are fairly happy people, who love their kids and families and actually enjoy doing things for other people. We also are never too busy to listen to another person or help them through a rough patch.
So, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when they called to offer (their form) of sympathy for my loss of Shubi. The call went something like this between my mother and me.

Mom: It’s too bad about Shubi.
Me: Yes. I feel pretty bad
Mom: I’ve been feeling pretty sick lately. Today I had a bad blood sugar attack because I forgot to eat lunch. And you know me I never forget to eat lunch.
Me: You shouldn’t do that.
Mom: Well, I was so sleepy. I don’t know why, I slept until 9 and then I fell back asleep until your father woke me up. And he is sick too. Stomach problems. (She told me more but I will not gross you out. It was bad enough that I had to listen!)
Me: Oh that’s too bad.
Mom: I was worried we wouldn’t be able to go to the dinner at church, but it looks like we will make it. I think it will be a lot of fun.
Me: That’s good.
Mom: What’s all that noise?
Me: Greta needs to go out.
Mom: I had a nice dog one time. Baby was a good dog.
Me: Yes, she was, but Shubi was very special to me.
Mom: My dog was special.
Me: Yes, well, Greta needs to go out so I’ve got to go.

Why do I expect that she will ever be able to offer any sort of loving support when I am grieving? Why do I even hope that maybe she can see a world that does not revolve around her? It always has to be about her. Her needs, her sicknesses, her life. Is it that she is truly incapable of seeing her own child’s pain?
Yep. I want that DNA test!

What a strange day. I woke up this morning with the mother of all hot flashes. I’m telling you, it soaked me from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet! Then I got chills. Really strange stuff here. Three hours later, my pup Greta goes into heat. Talk about a weird coincidence!
I had planned to breed Greta at this heat, but with Shubi’s illness and Hubby’s operation I decided to put it off until next fall. In many ways it’s a good thing. I can take a little more time and find just the right mate for her.
Feeling the need for some warm comfort food, I started a pot of split pea soup last night. The peas cooked all night long in the crock pot, and then this morning I was able to blend them and add the carrots and potatoes. When I feel down or blue, warm creamy soups make me feel better. The recipe is below.

Monday it was back to life. At least a little bit. I tried to stay productive. I did laundry, and I tried to clean up the kitchen, although looking at it now, I don’t think I did a very good job. Often I would walk into a room intent on doing something, only to find I had forgotten what it was.
I showered and dressed, and discovered my first pimple in about three years. Bright red and on my chin! You simply have to love what emotions will do to you! Ha!
I went in for my yearly mammogram, and I think I had the only technician who is literally far too fussy when it comes to how you are dressed. I used to be given one of those silly hospital gowns to wear for the exam. Sleeves, and two little ties for modesty. Not so today. This technician insists you wear this mini cape thing that hardly covers anything, and with one good gust of wind, all mystery would definitely be lost. I was glad when it was over and I could escape, and get back into all my clothes!
When I came home Fritz was in the yard, which is fairly usual. He just wanted me to let him back in the house. When I came up the stairs and opened the door…nothing. Greta was asleep, and well, Shubi wasn’t there to greet me. Right up to the end, Shubi would race to the door to greet me when I came in. It was always a big deal, whether I’d been gone 2 hours or 5 minutes. How often she met me, and made me feel so tremendously adored.
I found the negative for the sunset picture of Shubi and me, that Hubby took. I plan to bring it in and have an 8X10 print made up. That was back in the days of owning only a 35 mm camera.
I also spent a little time looking through photograph albums of the past. I saw Shubi as a puppy, as she grew and as she played. So many of those pictures made me smile. She was such a happy part of my life.

I was productive. I made a shopping list, and then went with Greta and Fritz and Hubby to the grocery store. Upon arrival I determined I had left the list at home. That’s okay, I decided, because I am so out of it, that just getting to the store was an accomplishment.
I went slowly through the store selecting the things I needed and desperately trying to remember what I’d written down on my list. I was grateful that Hubby didn’t ask to see the list. I think he might have realized I left it at home.
We got some great produce, which pleased me, and even got a nice Swordfish steak for dinner that was on sale.
We arrived home and I lugged all the bags up the stairs and got it all put away. I made lunch, and then somehow lost the afternoon. Don’t ask me what I did, was it TV, or the computer? I am not sure, it just seemed that the next thing I knew it was time to make dinner.
I had a few people call on the phone about Shubi. I did okay with most of them (meaning I didn’t sob uncontrollably), but a few times I just lost it and could hardly swallow.
She was greatly loved.

(Shubi and me at sunset)

I will now get down on my knees and thank Mother Nature for depositing all the snow south of me!

Yesterday’s snow storm didn’t amount to very much up here in central New Hampshire. In fact when I woke up on Sunday morning it wasn’t snowing at all (big smile)!!!
It did start to snow after 9 in the morning, and I was prepared to go out and do battle with the snow shovel, but then it just stopped.
I went out, looked up into the sky and saw, well, nothing coming down from it! This lasted for a couple of hours and then it did start up again, but the snow was just that teasing sort of snow. Looks pretty, but doesn’t amount to anything much.
By the time all was said and done we had one inch. Yes, you heard me right, one inch! After I started breathing again (with relief), I realized that sometimes wishes do come true!

Shubi did well yesterday. I did have to give her more fluids, but she did well with it and a short while after that she ate some lean pork. Later she ate some more. I can see where the fluids really perk her up, so yes, it made it a lot easier for me to do it again.

It was bath day for little Greta. She is not a fan, but was very good in the shower. Once she was done and I took her out to dry her off, she slipped through my fingers and off she ran! Down the hall, into the office to where Hubby was seated at his computer. She jumped up on the bed, then down on the rug, rubbing her fur onto anything and everything that she could!

I don’t know what it is about the commercials on TV right now, but so many of them have nice music on them. Maybe it’s because people my age are the senior advertising executives now and they all remember 70’s music as being some of the best! So, rock on commercials!

If you haven’t caught the USA Women’s Ice Hockey Team playing yet, mark your calendars. These ladies are hot, hot, hot! I haven’t seen play like this in a long time. They are really good!

Shubi hasn’t been feeling too well this week. I had her in to see the Veterinarian on Thursday and he took blood to see what was going on. Since Shubi’s big illness two years ago, she has had some minor problems caused by the chemotherapy and massive doses of Prednisone that she took to recover. However, at Shubi’s appointment on Thursday she had lost nearly a pound and I spoke of my concern that she just wasn’t eating.
Shubi’s back was bothering her some, and he gave me some muscle relaxants for that, and we left awaiting the blood test results.
Those came in yesterday, and they weren’t good. My little girl is having kidney failure. To what extent they are failing, I am not sure, but he wanted her to come in and spend the night hooked up to I.V.’s to help get her system back in balance.
Today, I hope she will come home and when I pick her up I need to have a long, serious talk with him about exactly where on the kidney failure chart our girl is.
Our friends in Australia called and gave us the name of a natural supplement that they use on their dachshund, who also has kidney problems. I will bring the information we found on the Internet with me and ask about that

**********************************

Hubby got a call yesterday from his Orthopedic Surgeon’s Office. His surgery has been scheduled for March 8th. In the meantime he needs to have a physical and we need to prepare for this big event. We hope that the surgery will be straight forward. Go in, remove the cysts that are on the fibula and tibia, repair the artificial knee that is already in place and close. However, there could be complications. We are just hoping for the best.

I thought I would be happy with yesterday’s heavy rain. You don’t have to shovel rain, right? Wrong! What happened is that it soaked the snow that was left in the driveway, and made the most horrible slushy, slop! I knew the night would bring freezing temperatures and so it had to be moved. I worked like an animal out there, in the rain, and I got most of it moved or broken up. I felt quite proud. Despite my best efforts out there, we now have some black ice and some crunchy clumps.

Okay, I’m ready for winter to be over this year!

*********************************

So that is the latest from the mountains of New Hampshire!!!

We had another snowfall on Sunday night. I would say we had about three inches of really heavy snow. Every tree was covered, and the world looked like it had been frosted by God himself!
Immediately the debate began in my mind. Do I drive to Waterville Valley on the slippery roads to ski or do I stay home in my nice warm house?
I drank some coffee and thought again. Do I drive to Waterville Valley on the slippery roads to ski, or do I stay home and shovel the snow all around the house?
Hmmmm. That’s a no-brainer!
In short order I packed a breakfast and put the Jeep in 4-wheel drive and pulled out of the driveway.
I was on my way.
The entire ride was spectacular. Mile upon mile of frosted trees and slushy roads, but I have a Jeep and I drove through it with an ease that truly surprised me.
After walking up from the parking lot to the lodge, I had a nice breakfast, put on my gear and made the first run of the day. I was amazed at the fantastic conditions. After the first four runs, I was sitting on the chair lift, and I decided I just had to call Hubby and tell him how great it was. Somehow I managed to get the phone wedged into my helmet and we chatted briefly. I did three more runs, before deciding to call it a day and head home.
I had my camera with me and decided to snap some snow shots.

When I was nearly home I remembered that our friends home always shows so nicely against the snow. So I pulled way over to the side of the road and stopped to take a picture. I hopped out of the car, took the picture and then drove off.

When I got home I started to gather everything up in the car. No cell phone! I dumped out my ski bag, my purse and checked all my pockets. No cell phone.
I yelled to Hubby and raced back to where I had taken the last picture. Hoping…
As I drove up I could see it lying on the ground. I ran over, picked it up and jumped back into the Jeep. The phone rang.
“Did you find your cell phone okay?” asked Hubby. Ha, ha! Hubby was calling to make sure the phone hadn’t fallen under the seat in the car.
I still cannot believe that I found it. That is hadn’t been run over. And that it wasn’t damaged at all!
All in all a very good day.

I’ve got nothing today. Nichts, Niets, Niente, Nada, Nothing!
Since Hubby’s knees gave out and he spends his days in a bathrobe in front of a computer screen drinking coffee, and I spend my days, doing all his work and mine, I am finding very little that is funny to write about.
Here is a sample of yesterday.
After making our breakfast and putting in time on the exercise bike (also known as the machine of torture), I showered, dressed and put all the trash, newspapers and bottles into the back of the Jeep and did a dump run. I will have you know that I was the only woman there. I’m not saying that women don’t do their own trash, but I think somehow, the men get stuck with this job. After sorting through all of our junk, clear glass here, brown glass there, green glass here, newspapers there, etc… I told Hubby that I plan a quick run to the Recycling Center once a week so it’s a more manageable job.
I picked up our mail at the Post Office, and arrived home just in time to let the dogs out and in, and then made lunch.
Meanwhile, I had laundry going, so immediately following lunch there was a basket of laundry to fold and put away before, Fritz was demanding that I open the door and let him out again. I must note here, Fritz is always on the wrong side of the door!
I attempted to straighten the family room. (I should just forget this and go with the fact that it’s going to be a little crazy in here while Hubby is laid up).
Then it was time to make dinner. I covered my Perdue Oven Stuffer Roaster with herbs and placed it in my rotisserie, while I snapped the beans. The dogs also needed to be fed.
Now isn’t this exciting?
I tortured Hubby with the scent of the chicken cooking for an hour and 20 minutes before I fixed our plates and served dinner.
After that I cleaned up the kitchen, let the dogs out and in again, climbed into my pajamas and then just vegetated in front of the TV.
So that’s my life.

I was killing time before I leave for the slopes, reading my old entries from June 2005. I’d checked to see who had come to Princess for a looksie and found someone had entered on the entry all about my eye surgery. So I clicked and started to read.
Isn’t it funny how you forget the little things that occur from day to day? I think that is one of the things I love about blogging. I can look back and know what I was doing or thinking on a certain day.
The surgery on my eye seems like so long ago now, and back then I wasn’t at all sure of it’s success, but here I am in January, knowing that it was successful! Yea for me!!!

Yes, it snowed yesterday. Not only did it snow, but it snowed a lot! I knew I was in trouble when I went out before noon to scrape a pathway for the dachshunds to use, and found we already had 4 inches of snow and it was still snowing really hard! I shoveled for about half an hour and came in to make lunch. Oh, I could feel my back muscles protesting their use.
After lunch, my neighbor arrived with his plow to do our driveway. He made a few passes, (our driveway is 500 feet long, all downhill!) and then came back with his snow blower to help me get things cleared up. While Hubby, on crutches, supervised. I worked for an hour and a half with our neighbor clearing the drive the rest of the way. He had the snow blower, I had a shovel. Guess which one of us is sore today?
Snow total was 6 inches.
Once I came in, I started feeling chilled so I filled the jacuzzi, dropped in a Lush butterball ballistic bath ball and just soaked and soaked. I’d still be in there, but I found I was getting pretty hungry after all that work. I debated my decision, but after half an hour I got out and made dinner. First for the dogs and then for us.
I felt pleasantly tired. I also felt like I had done enough exercise that by this morning I would have magically reached my goal weight! (yeah, right!) At least I feel quite virtuous for all the work I did and all that I got accomplished.
I’ve never really appreciated all that Hubby did, until yesterday!